2009

The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 20.0428 Monday, 3 August 2009
From: Sally Drumm <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Sunday, 02 Aug 2009 17:00:55 -0400
Subject: 20.0422 Ramblings on the Instability of Meaning and
Comment: Re: SHK 20.0422 Ramblings on the Instability of Meaning and
on the Nature of Thought
An old friend used to tell me, "Just be." Easier said than done, as
Hamlet so aptly demonstrates through his infamous speech, which would
make a great beer commercial. Now I do believe that Roland Barthes would
have had a great time with our 21st Century beer commercials relative to
Hamlet, the instability of meaning, the nature of thought, and the fatal
flaw (perhaps there is more than one fatal flaw, just as many virtues
coexist in the same form). Also comes to mind, Camus writing about
wrestling. So -- Hamlet wrestles with himself more so than with any
other character except the ghost of his father. It is the ghost who sets
him on the merry path. What then do we make of Just be in the character
and plot of Hamlet's imaginary life?
To be or not to be?
Is Hamlet's tragic flaw a matter of imagination ruling reality? This
state always results in indecision, and indecision leads to failure --
always. This fatal flaw question, of course, belongs in the other thread
and yet is most apropos in this one, in which Hardy discovers the
meanderings of being misread -- was the ghost misread by Hamlet? Was the
ghost in fact instructing Hamlet to Just Be? And was the tragic flaw a
matter of misreading, of imagination become more real than life?
So, once again, we find all threads deliciously connected.
Another old friend often said: Don't let the bastards get you down.
He, of course, said it in Latin.
Sincerely,
Sally Drumm
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